“We’re from where we’re from… Scars are part of the deal, aren’t they?”
THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS (2020) is the latest novel by Stephen Graham Jones and certainly the most original novel I have read in quite some time. In the book Jones combines keen observations about modern day Native American life (especially on a Blackfeet reservation and surrounding areas). Without interfering with the story’s plot and without being sanctimonious or self-righteous, Jones exposes with personal authenticity all of the poverty and hardships Natives still face today. Among those hardships are hunger, hatred from outsiders, abuse and bigotry, suicide, struggles between elders and the young, trying to hold onto traditional Native ways which are in conflict with contemporary times, and different approaches to survival involving hard work which takes time, diverse desires for the future, self-image, as well as those who would prefer to simply give up. There is also indulging in drugs, alcohol, and the frustrating futility of countless run-ins with the authorities. By themselves, all of these would make for a tremendous novel, but Jones adds an additional element to the story—the supernatural—making THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS quite unique.
Four young Native American men in their twenties—Cass, Gabe, Ricky, and Lewis, defy both the law and tribal tradition as well as nature itself and go on a dishonorable killing spree, slaughtering a herd of elk five days before Thanksgiving. Caught in a “drop-off place” (and “old-time buffalo jump” where Native Americans would drive bison off cliffs to their doom) outside of the reservation and on land which belongs to Bigfeet elders, the elk are obliviously and heartily grazing before winter sets in and a passing nearby train blocks out the sound of the approaching hunters who have driven onto the land where such is forbidden. The men excitedly, enthusiastically, and wastefully kill far more elk than they can even load into their pickup truck. Among the elk shot is a female. Even with “her back broken [and] half her head blown to mist,” she refuses to die and Lewis discovers she is frantically trying to save her unborn calf. With her one remaining yellow eye boring into his face, a curse is born—one which takes ten years to begin to fall into place.
THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS with its provocative title is not always an easy book to read. Jones’ descriptions of Native American life in what should be a land of plenty is heart-rending. Further, his narrative style, at times, mirrors that of a Cormac McCarthy. Readers need to be alert to sudden, unannounced changes in point of view of the narration and the aspect of time not always being a thing of consistency. As events slowly begin to unfold, one doesn’t always have a sense of what is real or imaginary. If real, the horror that begins to encircle Lewis Clarke, having already lost a close friend, and the things he might or might not be seeing, are, for him, unacceptably bizarre and fantastic.
After learning and absorbing numerous details, some vague and some not, and witnessing persons filled with doubts, disappointments, and hope as well as broken promises, friendships pushed to the brink, and relationships which are both embryonic and fragile at a deliberately measured pace, readers who approach THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS and Jones’ story-telling style with patience and attention get rewarded midway through the novel with a vividly brought to life traditional healing ceremony—a cleansing in a sweat lodge—which goes horribly awry. The story begins to suddenly thrust itself forward at a rapid pace. The horror of what is happening becomes more than clear, beyond belief, and multiplies in what appears to be an insurmountable fashion as does sudden and breath-taking violence and death.
During the book’s final chapters Stephen Graham Jones provides an intricate coming together of his themes of individuals caught between traditional and modern conventions confronting preternatural and yet understandable forces bent on revenge as a most unlikely character moves to the forefront. Readers are likely to find themselves gulping for breath while at the same time watching a blanket of redemption unfold. Thus, THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS proves to not only be an unconventional novel, but a riveting and rewarding read as well.
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Popular Highlights in this book
If the only good Indian is a dead one, then she’s going to be the worst Indian ever.Highlighted by 776 Kindle readers- Dealing with cops is like being around a skittish horse: No sudden movements, nothing shiny or loud. Zero jokes.Highlighted by 579 Kindle readers
- “We’re from where we’re from,” she says back. “Scars are part of the deal, aren’t they?”Highlighted by 498 Kindle readers
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Stephen Graham Jones' finest work to date. And that's saying a lot.
I discover writers through other writers, either through personal recommendations, or an author's name in the same company of a writer I admire. Sometimes writers sneak in plugs for each other in their own work. Ken Bruen's protagonists are always haunting used book & record stores. I've taken tons of recommendations from Ken, from Charles Willeford to Megan Abbott. William T. Vollmann was a name I heard numerous times in conjunction with contemporary & favorite of mine, David Foster Wallace.In one particular instance, I happened on a generous community for writers hosted by Chuck Palahniuk, a writer I've devoured avidly over the years; I think it was called The Velvet. Through that inside forum I discovered Jeremy Robert Johnson, Craig Clevenger, lots of Bizarro portland writers, and Stephen Graham Jones.I've read all his published work, from his early West Texas noir/tragedies All The Beautiful Sinners, The Fast Red Road, et al, to the madcap horror romps like Zombie Sharks With Metal Teeth, the chupacabra-inhabited It Came From Del Rio, his own cult novel, Demon Theory, to his turn at pure & informed historical fantasy, Ledfeather (that was formerly one of SGJ's volumes on my Shelf of Fame) the horror for which he is best known, the 100's of stories, the dozens of novels; Mapping The Interior (that was also on the Shelf), The Least Of My Scars, The Long Trial Of Nolan Dugatti, and now, The Only Good Indians.What effects me most in Stephen's writing is the lapidary opulence of his descriptive prose--each invocation condensed as a koan--without ever leaving the colloquial. I'm envious of the friendships and relationships in all his books, friends that finish each others' thoughts, so many in-jokes we're all let in on, dialogue & dramatic interaction on an exalted but utterly simpatico level.Stephen is a devotee of horror in all its venues, and his capacious embrace of genre films informs but doesn't define his work. Our sense of justice deferred imbues our empathy for hunted become hunter in Bronson's Death Wish and Eastwood's Sudden Impact; retribution from beyond fuels I Know What You Did Last Summer. In The Only Good Indians, the hunted-become-hunter is no longer figurative.Stephen Graham Jones breaks the mold of formula or template at every turn. Each of the cast of characters is given their own voice in their own chapters, though in fact, the unique integrity of tone within each chapter, as well as the parsimonious revelation of history among these four Blackfeet young men and their near ones reads initially and in some of the best moments as stand-alone stories. So solid, so true in voice, so particular in personal & characterful resonance.Lewis is our first narrator. Instantly sympathetic, an everyman we are comforted as will be a dependable and companionate protagonist.I was honored to be granted an early read of some of Stephen's work. The drunk, hapless, part-time storage unit denizen & guard cum necessitated P.I. had to snap out of a particularly bad hangover. So, with intent, he slammed his hand in a truck door."Stephen! I'm a pianist! Give me a heads-up on the hand-smashing stuff!"Therein lies Stephen's horror super-power: the even-keel, quotidian life plunged instantaneously into the deepest wrong you could never imagine.What makes Lewis' horror the more palpable is the insecurity of knowing how much is due to the Avenging Angel and how much (as in Scars & Dugatti) is the demon, the guilt sowed deeply within.And we've barely started. It's a sheer drop into madness all the way to the end, with the Avenging Angel & Denorah, Gabriel's ultra-athletic daughter fighting for it all, one-on-one, Bergman-style, but with the most intuitively informed narrative of blacktop basketball as you'll ever read.
